Will this cause Vince to change things up?

With raw posting it's lowest numbers in 15 years it's obvious not just to us, the fans, but even to the business people at Titan towers in Stamford the product is stale and it needs to change. We all have our own opinions on what would make it better but with Linda and her senate run being a factor (non factor if you ask wwe people) and the shareholders wanting a pg product, how does the company change for the better?

Imo it's not by going back to the attitude era that's been done. The company needs a new direction not a rehash. Could these terrible ratings finally wake Vince up and make him change things?

I'm not buying that it's a lack of Cena, I think it's football more than anything else. It's too bad this absence didn't happen outside of football season so we could see for sure. If a bad game's on next week and Cena's still not around I guess we can compare the ratings.

The fact is however that people would rather watch football than wrestling. As much as Vince doesn't want to believe that he's competing with football, he is... at least for ratings. WWE may still be making more money off of 3 hours of ads even with a ratings dip, but the problem is that that might start affecting attendance at house shows, merch sales and PPV buys if people just aren't watching wrestling. If you're not watching the product for free on television, why are you going to pay to see it? Of course you have to take DVR numbers into account, as well as people that watch repeats of the shows. DVR numbers could be much higher this week in light of the football game.

A lot of people blame Linda McMahon's senate race, which is a big factor. But there are other things to consider here. First, we live in such an uptight and sensitive society these days. Everyone's an activist, and with all the media outlets and social media popularity, no matter what you do, unless you keep it the cartoon that it's been, you're bound to offend someone and then there's scrutiny and negative criticism around every corner until there's daily press conferences to apologize. The world sucks today, simply because of that. And it's a trend that's going to get worse. I wouldn't be surprised if, in 5 or 10 years, they ban an R Rating for any main stream movies, and they ban cuss words and depictions of violence. I mean, I actually read about the outcry over a Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr conversation in the movie Tropic Thunder, where they used the word retard. Like really? It's a fucking movie. The world needs to get over itself. If WWE gets too violent or edgy again, all the big sponsors will disappear because they don't want to be affiliated with that. If they keep going where they're going, it's going to just die, or become a reality tv show.

The other factor is, McMahon is an old man now, Remember, he has grandchildren. He doesn't want them watching something that's too edgy or inappropriate...however, how can he say to them, "Sorry, you can't watch Pop Pop's tv show".

I'm not buying that it's a lack of Cena, I think it's football more than anything else. It's too bad this absence didn't happen outside of football season so we could see for sure. If a bad game's on next week and Cena's still not around I guess we can compare the ratings.

The fact is however that people would rather watch football than wrestling. As much as Vince doesn't want to believe that he's competing with football, he is... at least for ratings. WWE may still be making more money off of 3 hours of ads even with a ratings dip, but the problem is that that might start affecting attendance at house shows, merch sales and PPV buys if people just aren't watching wrestling. If you're not watching the product for free on television, why are you going to pay to see it? Of course you have to take DVR numbers into account, as well as people that watch repeats of the shows. DVR numbers could be much higher this week in light of the football game.

One question about football, from a guy who has barely an idea about it (that's why I ask!):

Is football getting higher rates than normal due to all the ref controversy? I mean, a couple of bad calls in favor of the weaker team can get them a shocking win, and people may be interested in that.

Or is the NFL doing as usual?

I'll try to throw my two cents from the issues about WWE later, I need a bit of sleep. But I needed to ask that, it was on my mind and had to get out.

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I don't think the situation is quite as dire as some are making it out to be on account of the Nielsen ratings system no longer being a particularly accurate barometer of what people are watching and when exactly they are watching it. With the proliferation of the internet, we'll likely never seen live numbers like we used to. That doesn't immediately translate to less eyes on the overall product, though.

What Vince needs to do is create another John Cena. Look how WWE got big... Hulk Hogan ----> Stone Cold ----> The Rock and now John Cena.....Vince knows as we all know that Cena will not be in WWE Forever

I get that Big E Langston dropped the NXT CHAMPIONSHIP
but....to Bo Dallas out of all people? WTF!